Williams has created an interesting, post-human/post-singularity world, albeit one where 'true' A.I. hasn't occurred because all computers powerful enough to host an A.I. have 'Asimovian Protocols' in place to prevent them from evolving into sentience.

John Sladek is my poster child for a forgotten writer; he did the best satires of the Asimovian robots (and, by extension, the overly-technological, highly-regulated default future of mid-century SF), and was one of the very funniest writers in the field, but his work is mostly out of print and forgotten.